Your parents are from Ireland, so how will you celebrate St Patrick’s Day?Karl (13): At school we always wear a St Patrick’s badge, and I think we’ll do something at home. (Shouts to dad) Dad! Are we doing a party for Paddy’s Day? (Waits for response) Yeah, I think we are.

Tara (nine): I think I’m going to do some dancing. I used to do Irish dancing lessons but I stopped, but the dancing is fun when you get into it.

Is that the type of dancing where you keep your arms really straight and fling your legs around?Tara: Yeah, it’s kind of like skipping and it keeps you really fit. Some of the routines are complicated and some are easier.

Does the whole family dance?Karl: I’ll probably play Gaelic football with my friends or be working the music. But there will be a lot of dancing, and probably some really bad choices of tunes from my dad. He usually picks a mixture of Irish music, hip hop and some friends of the family will probably come round and play that synchronised dance music. You know, the sort of songs where you’ve all got to jump to the left and then the right and stuff. It’s really funny watching everyone because no one seems to know how to do it. It doesn’t stop them from trying, though.

Tara: Once my dad was dancing and he knocked a table and a glass over. That was quite funny.

What else makes you laugh?Tara: My school friends. I have some really good friends and I like it when we go camping and go sand boarding and camel riding. And skiing at Ski Dubai, that makes me laugh. My brother can parallel ski, but I can’t do it very well – but I have learned how to stop, which is the main thing.

What do you like the most about living here?Karl: The fact that there are lots of activities and lots of things to do. I play loads of sports: paintball, rugby, paintball, Gaelic football, and did I mention paintball? There’s so much to do, I’m never bored.

Do you prefer Dubai to Ireland? Karl: We’ve never really lived in Ireland, but we go back every summer, which is why I have a bit of an Irish accent. We visit my mum’s family in Dublin but I like it best when we go down to see my dad’s family and all my cousins in Meath because we all play Gaelic football. But I like to come back here, too. St Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17